Mom's Fragrant Aloo Chana Masala (Oil and Fat-Free)
Fragrant Aloo Chana Masala is one of the easiest, most delicious, and most satisfying meals you can whip together even if you are struggling with chronic illness. Moreover, with so many powerful healing ingredients, this is a delicious and comforting healing recipe!
Servings 4
Author Muneeza Ahmed
Ingredients
6 - 8 mediumred or gold potatoes, steamed and peeled
Steam your potatoes on the stove in a steaming pot, or in an electric steamer (I recommend the Cuisinart). This takes about 30 minutes.
Once done, peel and cube them ready to use in the masala.
You can start the masala while the potatoes are steaming. If you are going to cook your chickpeas from scratch, I recommend giving yourself about 45 minutes headstart on your recipe. You can start steaming the potatoes and prepping the chickpeas together.
If you are using canned chickpeas, strain the water off and lightly mash. If you are cooking the chickpeas from scratch, use about ⅔ cup of dried chickpeas to yield 2 cups of cooked chickpeas. Again, once ready, lightly mash them.
While the potatoes are steaming, put all the masala - fennel seeds, red chilli, coarsely ground coriander, and green chili into a pan on medium heat. Do not add the black seed (black caraway) into the pan at this time. Use 1 tbsp of water for sautéing.
Cook until the masala becomes aromatic, about 2 - 3 minutes. Add more water as needed for cooking the masala.
Once the masala is aromatic then add the curry leaves, chickpeas and potatoes.
Mix the masala thoroughly with the potatoes and chickpeas. Drizzle the date syrup and mix again.
Add kalonji (black seed) at the end and finish the dish off with the lime juice. We are asking for a lot of lime juice here and you don’t want to skimp on this! It really seals in the right flavor for this dish.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and voila, your Fragrant Aloo Chana Masala is ready.
If you already have the potatoes and chickpeas ready ahead of time, the cooking time for this dish is about 5 - 7 minutes. Serve warm and Enjoy!